North Adams, Massachusetts (place)

If you were to ask any one in the state of Massachusetts 12 years ago how to get to North Adams, they would have replied, "Oh no, you do not want to go there." This is because the once thriving community of North Adams began to fall into decay during the late 1970's. Many of the big textile and other manufacturing companies shutdown, making many of the residents unemployed. A lot of these people moved out of North Adams leaving their homes behind to rot and decay.

Mass MoCA had over 50,000 people show up on the first day and the numbers continued to grow. Many of the area residents were skeptical that a thing like art would be able to turn their town around. Yet it did and the number of people coming to the museum has grown. People (mostly younguns) come from all over to see the odd forms of art and culture in North Adams. Artists started to move into North Adams. For instance: Eric Rudd, a sculptor; moved into the top floor of an abandoned warehouse so he could be able to make massive works of art. He also one day decide to make a side-street of North Adams an attraction by bringing in loads of sand and making a beach right there. Kids and their parents were building sandcastles in the middle of the street.

Up until last year North Adams economy looked like it was straight shooting. After 9/11 the huge economic slump took it's toll on North Adams. Many of the companies that had moved in cut down or moved out. Mass MoCA suffered some, but they say that business is doing pretty well in spite of the economic slump.

North Adams is in a trying time for certain and hopefully the town will come out of it stronger then ever. North Adams is more than a town that thought it had met it's end and finally was revived; it is a symbol of what can happen when hope still thrives. North Adams future is uncertain, but one thing's for sure; the town will keep trying.

Much of the information attained is from a documentary called "Downside Up" by Nancy Kelly, a former resident of North Adams.